Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice
Sorted by date Results 1 - 25 of 35
It’s been a long time coming. Ever since Amira’s Kosher Deli & Restaurant closed several years ago, there has been a void in the Central Florida Jewish community when it comes to kosher restaurants. But that void has been filled with the grand opening—complete with red-ribbon cutting and Maitland city council representation—of Brown’s New York Deli, in the Village Plaza Shopping Center, on the corner of SR17/92 and Lake Avenue. A tin-etched ceiling and round, hanging deco lights with the New Yor...
By Ron Kampeas WASHINGTON (JTA)—In increasingly strident tones, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been telling his American friends that the purported moderation of Iran’s new president is a ploy aimed at relieving international pressure and buying the Islamic Republic more time to cross the nuclear threshold. But in ways both subtle and direct, some of those friends—among them some of Israel’s closest allies in Washington—are saying that maybe Hassan Rohani is worth hearing o...
(JTA)—Max Wallack was 6 years old when his beloved great-grandmother Gertrude came to live with him and his family in Natick, Mass. For four years he helped his parents take care of her and saw firsthand the effects of Alzheimer’s disease on her. But Wallack also noticed that when she and other Alzheimer’s patients would do simple jigsaw puzzles, their mood would lighten. The observation would change him forever. “Patients were so often depressed and agitated, but after they would do a puzzle,...
Last Monday, Israel named the first 26 of the 104 Palestinian terrorist prisoners that it agreed to release as a goodwill gesture for the restarting of Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiations. But while the Palestinian terrorists will initially earn their freedom in this deal, efforts are under way in the U.S. to bring about the further prosecution of those terrorists whose attacks harmed American citizens in Israel. With the support of the Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET), a pro-Israel think tank and policy center in Washington, D.C.,...
HAIFA—Jay Ruderman has observed for years that when American Jewish leaders visit Israel or when Israeli leaders visit the United States, the conversation is “always about Israel” and how the Jewish state relates to Iran, Syria, the Palestinians, and others. “What’s happening in the American Jewish community?” and how those events impact future support for Israel never seem to enter the conversation, according to Ruderman, who worked for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in...
Did an Israeli drone cross into Egyptian airspace last weekend and fire a rocket at gunmen in the Sinai Peninsula who were about to launch a strike on Israel? Probably. Will any Israeli or Egyptian official admit it, even off the record? Probably not. The official story coming out of Egypt is that it was the Egyptian military that attacked Jihadists in Sinai, killing five. The Egyptian army, which is presently controlling Egypt after Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi was forced from office, is wary of being seen as too close to Israel...
By Josh Lipowsky NEW YORK (JTA)—It started when she was 13. “Sarah” became involved with a man 10 years her elder. He began setting her up with his friends for sex. She knew they would sometimes pay him, but she always thought she could trust him. He became her world. Even though he would beat her, Sarah internalized it as affection. When she tried to leave, threats to her family kept her coming back. “I didn’t realize I was a sex-trafficking victim until I got out,” said Sarah, who grew up in an Orthodox Jewish home and is now in her 20s. “I...
Arabian Nights, a tourist attraction in southwest Orlando, now offers a kosher menu that is supervised by RCF Rabbi Yosef Konikov of Chabad of South Orlando. “It is definitely a new market for us, so we are up and coming with introducing it to the Jewish community,” said Lauren Gazneli, special events coordinator for Arabian Nights. Gazneli handles all special events, such as birthdays and wedding celebrations. Their venue seats up to 1,200 and there is a private Sky Box that seats up to 75 guests. The new kosher menu includes entrees such as...
The Holocaust Center has announced the opening of its newest exhibit, In Remembrance: 75 Years After Kristallnacht. The public is invited to the opening reception and a presentation by art judge Sarah Canright on Sunday, Sept. 15 beginning at 2 p.m., at the Holocaust Center. Eighteen artists, many of them local, have been invited to share their interpretation of that theme as part of a juried art contest. Works that have been accepted will be on display, accompanied by panels that trace the history of the rise of the Nazis and the lessons...
Congregation Beth Shalom will celebrate its move to a new synagogue with an open house at 2 p.m., Aug. 25 at 1308 E. Normandy Blvd., Suite D, Deltona. The celebration will include carrying the Torahs into the sanctuary, affixing the mezuzah on the doorpost and dedicating the sanctuary. Families and the general community are invited to meet the rabbi and members of the congregation. “We offer a comfortable, nonjudgmental, family atmosphere in which Jewish people of many backgrounds can worship together and share a love for their mutual h...
One of the oft-repeated criticisms of the movement to boycott Israel is that it portrays the Middle East’s only healthy democracy as the ultimate rogue state, ignoring at the same time those authoritarian regimes that violate the most basic human rights on a daily basis. Frankly, that’s why I’m pleased to announce that the boycott I’m writing about here, one that is picking up pace, has nothing to do with Israel, the Palestinians, or the Middle East in general. This time, the target is Russia. Under President Vladimir Putin, Russia has reverte...
By Andrew Silow-Carroll An old friend who happens to be both gay and Orthodox once surprised me by defending matrilineal descent—not in terms of Halacha, the code of Jewish law, but in terms of people hood. By defining a Jew in unimpeachable biological terms, he said, we make it so Jews have to look at each other as members of a people. If you take away biology, then the only way to judge whether someone is Jewish is according to what he or she believes. Thanks to matrilineal descent, a secular Jew in Tel Aviv and a pious hasid in Brooklyn h...
Living in a Jewish country has its attractions. One of them is that you can enjoy being a Jew without being religious. Living in a Jewish country also has its problems. One of them is that you cannot avoid Judaism. Even outspoken Jewish atheists are surrounded by stimuli associated with the faith they deny. Virtually every item on the daily news touches the subject. Either Jews are quarreling about an issue with religious implications—and almost all of the local topics have such implications, such as comments about environmental protection o...
Among the various events in Holocaust history marking their 70th anniversary this year—including the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, the Nazis’ failed assault on Stalingrad, and a Washington, DC march by 400 rabbis who urged President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to rescue Europe’s Jews—what stands out for author Jud Newborn is the White Rose episode. In February, July, and October 1943, the Nazis executed the six members of the White Rose non-Jewish resistance group, which distributed leaflets opposing Hitler. The founding historian of New York’s...
Hezbollah has had a rough time recently. After years of indecision, the European Union designated its “military wing” as a terrorist organization. This move, long overdue and yet incomplete, had been vigorously opposed by Lebanon, home to Hezbollah, and by Iran, the group’s chief state sponsor. Canada and the United States long ago designated the entire Hezbollah a terrorist organization. And, after the EU vote, the Gulf Cooperation Council’s six members—Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and the United Arab Emirates—agreed to impose s...
Bayit Yehudi MK Ayelet Shaked has released a scathing open letter to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, for pushing the Israeli government to release convicted terrorist murderers. In the letter, Shaked—who recently called for the death penalty to be implemented for terrorists—wrote that: “In light of the current situation that you have brought about, I feel that I cannot be bound by the restraints of ‘politically correct’ wording, and I therefore will allow myself to convey my following message to you in the most straightforward fashion.” She...
MORNING AND EVENING MINYANS (Call synagogue to confirm time.) Chabad of South Orlando—Monday and Thursday, 8 a.m. 407-354-3660. Congregation Ahavas Yisrael—Monday - Friday, 7 a.m.; Sunday, 8 a.m., 407-644-2500. Congregation Chabad Lubavitch of Greater Daytona—Monday, 8 a.m.; Thursday, 8 a.m., 904-672-9300. Congregation Ohev Shalom—Sunday, 9 a.m., 407-298-4650. GOBOR Community Minyan at Jewish Academy of Orlando—Monday—Friday, 7:45 a.m.—8:30 a.m. Temple Israel—Sunday, 9 a.m., 407-647-3055. FRIDAY, AUGUST 23 Light Shabbat candles at 7:39 p.m. Ah...
By Abigail Klein Leichman You may not have heard of corneal edema, but this painful eye condition caused by accumulation of fluids is not uncommon as a result of eye surgery, trauma or aging. The edema (swelling) causes the cornea to lose its transparency, affecting vision and leading to irreversible scarring of the cornea. Until Israeli startup EyeYon Medical invented its patented therapeutic contact lens, Hyper CL, there was no effective way to relieve symptoms of the condition—which can be cured only with a donor cornea from a deceased p...
We grew up in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn, N.Y. surrounded by Orthodox Jews, but we were never part of that community. We were all Jews but somehow it seemed that we each lived in our own little world. When Rabbi Yanky Majesky asked us to join him and his wife, Chanshy, to the National Jewish Retreat we did not know what to expect. We have just returned from the Retreat in the Washington, DC area, and it was five of the most wonderful days. We were warmly welcomed into the Chabad community, and were made to feel very much part of it....
Gloria Hayman of Longwood, passed away peacefully on Aug. 9, 2013 after a long illness. She was 82 years old. She faced her condition with courage and dignity and even at the end she captured people with her smile. Mrs. Hayman was born in Toronto, Ontario on May 30, 1931, to the late Helen and Samuel Wise. She had one sister, Elaine Kravetsky, who is deceased. She had been married for 60 years to Julius Hayman, who was continually at her side. The Haymans initially settled in Detroit but later...
Eugene Goodman of Lake Mary, passed away on Monday, Aug. 12. He was 83 years old. Mr. Goodman, a lifelong resident of Cleveland, Ohio, relocated to the Orlando area in 2010. He was born Sept. 20, 1929, and was the son of the late Albert Schultz and Caroline (Weisz) Schultz. Mr. Goodman worked in finance and was an accountant. He was a veteran of the Korean War, serving in the U.S. Army. He was married to the late Edith Appel, who passed away in 1990. Mr. Goodman was the consummate volunteer, beginning in high school and continuing throughout...
In 1933, a beautiful, young Austrian woman took off her clothes for a movie director. She ran through the woods, naked. She swam in a lake, naked. Pushing well beyond the social norms of the period. The most popular movie in 1933 was King Kong. But everyone in Hollywood was talking about that scandalous movie with the gorgeous, young Austrian woman. Louis B. Mayer, of the giant studio MGM, said she was the most beautiful woman in the world. The film was banned practically everywhere, which of...
Temple Israel and the Zionistas of Orlando present guest speaker Wallace S. Bruschweiler, Sr., who will speak on Israel’s Counter Terrorism Program—the right approach and solutions, on Sunday, Aug. 25, from 2—4 p.m. Bruschweiler, a quadri-linguist and subject matter expert on counter terrorism and national security issues, will explore various approaches used by Israel, the U.S., and Russia in combating terrorist activity around the world. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, please contact Sandi Solomon at 407-5...
This is very interesting... This comes directly from the World Jewish Congress Digest. It is something that has been bothering many of us: “The United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, RICHARD FALK, is notorious for outrageous comments. In his latest verbal spew, he said that the Boston Marathon bombings were directly attributable to America’s policy on Israel. “World Jewish Congress President Ambassador RONALD S. LAUDER called Falk’s comments linking...
BERLIN (JTA)—Chancellor Angela Merkel, making the first visit by a German head of state to the Dachau memorial, said it was “a very significant moment for me.” Merkel laid a wreath, visited the concentration camp memorial’s museum and met with survivors on Tuesday. “The memory of these fates fills me with deep sadness and shame,” Merkel said, the German news media reported. Max Mannheimer, 93, a survivor who met with Merkel, praised her visit as a sign “of respect for the former detainees.” Ahead of the visit, critics had accused Merkel...
